Along the southern shore of Honolulu Hawaii, there is a peninsula known as Kakaako Makai.  It was created, in part, by land fill from garbage incinerators, but is now attractive park land.  It is an ideal place for a master planned redevelopment with residential towers and renovated parks.  The only problem is that in 2006 NIMBYs passed HRS 206E-31.5(2), which prohibited the construction of residential highrises in Kakaako Makai, despite that fact that Kakaako Mauka had 40 high rises approved because it was becoming a second-downtown right next to the primary downtown. 

The vision of Kakaako was to create a place where folks could live, work and play, or at least if they had to work downtown was just a bike-ride or short walk away.  Kakaako Makai is perfectly situated to support such a vision.  There is a Children's Discovery Center and the University of Hawaii Medical School right in the middle of Kakaako Makai.  It has a huge park system running straight through the middle.  Kamehameha Schools, the largest "Ali`i Trust" in Hawaii which is also an experienced developer, owns half the lots suitable for residential construction, and the other half are owned by the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, an entity created to improve the conditions of Native Hawaiians.  If these two entities were allowed to build and sell highly profitable residential towers, the profits would go back to their many educational programs for Native Hawaiians.  The development of Kakaako Makai, in other words, is as pono, or righteous, as it gets.

In addition to this, the area is currently an abandoned blight zone.  Homeless people periodically take over the area.  The parks are run down due to disuse.  The area is full of parking lots and car dealerships.

It does not have to be this way!  What could happen is that Kamehameha Schools, OHA, the City and County of Honolulu, the University of Hawaii and the Hawaii Community Development Authority (the state agency charged with zoning of the area) get together and create a master planned community with a Hawaiian sense of place.  Association dues could be levied to support Native Hawaiian cultural programming.  The funds could also be used to improve the park, preserve surfing access, and create new, awesome amenities for the people of Hawaii to enjoy.  

If you support this positive, forward-looking, pro-family vision for Hawaii, please sign this petition today!  Urge the state legislature to pass a bill repealing HRS 206E-31.5(2)!  The legislature could use SB1334 as a vehicle.  They just need to have the political willpower, which you can help give to them!